Thursday, December 07, 2006

The Cure by Dr. Grazer a Canadian doc notes that because Americans depend on insurers for health reimburement, they don't care so much about their health care bills. Of course that is all changing, with our skyrocketing costs. His point is that we can do things medically that we could not do 30 years ago and the bottom line is that that costs money. He advocates that the market naturally evolve in America rather than implementing a single payor, as in Canada. We are seeing this evolution as families use high deductible plans and combine them with new practices that charge patients directly, as the old pediatrics system is languishing in dysfunction of commoditized healthcare in which the average patient waits an hour to see a grumpy doc because he's only making 23 dollars and 50 cents for the visit. The Personal Pediatricssolution is just one of many niche healthcare solutions that is rapidly evolving. Natalie Hodge MD St. Louis House call affiliate Pediatrician